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List of Outlaw Star characters
The following is a list of characters from the Japanese manga and anime Outlaw Star. Protagonists Gene, Jim and Melfina are the regular crew of the Outlaw Star. Suzuka and Aisha are more independent and are part-time crew-members. Gene Starwind : is a 20-year-old man who developed a fear of space flight and a hatred of pirates during an attack when he was 15. This attack resulted in his father's death at the hands of a band of mercenaries led by Ron MacDougall. Gene was thrown into an escape pod moments before their ship exploded, and landed on Sentinel III where he would remain until the beginning of the series. Gene is scared of space, until Hilda questions him, "Are you going to keep running away?" and Gene responds, "Keep running away?" Hilda's questioning of his courage is the turning point where Gene's fear of space gradually begins to fade. While on Sentinel III, Gene met the much younger Jim Hawking and the two went into business, forming a company called Starwind and Hawking Enterprises. Gene is a reckless ladies' man and a bit of a pervert who shamelessly flirts with almost every woman he meets; he would rather try to achieve his goals with a minimum of effort, and his reckless attitude proves a continuous source of frustration to Jim. He has shown that he is almost never open about his feelings, however he has opened up to Suzuka on occasion. Despite his brash nature, Gene does have a caring side to his personality which he usually displays toward Melfina. After realizing Melfina had no recollection of her purpose or function, Gene promises to help her find her past and protects her from the various individuals in pursuit of her. Throughout the course of the series, he begins to develop feelings for her, but is hesitant to act on them for fear of making himself vulnerable. It also results in him forming an antagonistic rivalry with Harry MacDougall, who is far more open in his pursuit of Melfina's affection. Gene is well armed with a variety of weapons, including a pistol, grenade launcher, knife, rocket launcher, etc. His special weapon, a Caster gun, fires special Caster shells; magic bullets that are effective against Tao priests and other entities protected against normal weaponry. Caster shells are projectile capsules containing a spell cast by a wizard that has been contained, allowing non-magic users to fire the spell from a gun. Caster shells are also numbered by power level (although not incrementally), the three most powerful being 4, 9, and 13. Caster shells are considered antiques, however, and are difficult to acquire. Some of the effects of the caster shells include opening up small controlled black holes in order to absorb an opponent, as seen by the shell being used effectively against Hamushi and ineffectively against Hazanko. Gene only reserves these particular caster shells for powerful opponents, since they carry the extreme danger of killing him if he uses them consecutively. Gene's ear piercings are also incredibly useful to him, as they possess a communication device that serves like a two-way radio which allows him keep in contact with Jim, who holds the other communicator piercing. Gene bears many scars all over his body, a testament to the hardships that he has endured over his lifetime. The most noticeable are the two on his left cheek, just below his eye. These were all probably made after his father's ship was destroyed and he crashed on Sentinel III. In addition, Gene's name could be an oblique reference to Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek. James "Jim" Hawking : is an 11-year-old business partner and sidekick of Gene Starwind, though how they met is unknown. He is the son of a famous computer hacker known as the "Computer Wizard." Jim serves as the team's computer expert, hacker, strategist, and back-up. Unlike Gene, he is responsible, concerned, and worries about the team's finances and plans, preferring to earn money the hard way rather than to take risks. Jim becomes good friends with fellow Outlaw Star crew member Aisha Clan Clan, who is in some ways his opposite: Jim gets treated like a child even though he acts like an adult, while Aisha, though an adult, acts like a child. Jim also looks up to the android Melfina as a mother figure (whom he occasionally has to protect from Gene's lecherous advances), and gets along well with the Outlaw Star’s on-board computer, Gilliam II. Jim has trouble, however, trusting strangers such as Hilda, who first approaches him and Gene under false pretenses, and Suzuka, who tries to kill Gene and whose motives are unclear. Episode 20 of the anime tells the story of Jim's first love, a young girl named Hanmyo who, unknown to the crew, is a combat pilot charged with destroying the Outlaw Star and its crew. His name could be a nod to Jim Hawkins of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Jim modifies one of the Gilliam maintenance robots, changing its color from blue to pink and adding silly eyebrows. He says that he just felt like making one of them special. After this is done, he carries that one with him and uses it as his own personal link to Gilliam. Melfina : is a bio-android created by Professor Nguyen Khan using ancient biotechnology found within the Grave of the Dragon ruins. The complexity of the information was so vast that even a great mind like his couldn't understand it all. Some time after she was created, both Melfina and the Outlaw Star were stolen from the Kei pirates by the outlaw Hilda, who intended to use them to find the Galactic Leyline. Melfina's appearance is of a petite and slender young woman with shoulder length black hair and large brown eyes. While her physical age appears to be eighteen, her real age is that of only two. She has no recollection of her past or why she was created, which often troubles her throughout the series. Later, on the planet holding the ruins of the Grave of the Dragon, she sings a mysterious song (the ending song for episodes 1-13) which possibly signifies the weight of the questions about her existence that she wants answered. Despite being an artificial humanoid, Melfina possesses both free will and human emotions as well as the physical need for food and rest (although for some unexplained reason she lacks the ability to dream). Her personality is sweet-natured, with a polite and loving -albeit generally naive- demeanor, and because of this Jim thinks of her as a mother figure. She's noted as having a natural talent for cooking, and serves as the Outlaw Star’s official chef in addition to being ship's navigator. After the death of Hilda, Melfina travels with Gene after he promises to find her purpose, and gradually begins to develop feelings for him. Later in the series, it is revealed that she was created to navigate to the Galactic Leyline, and is the only one able to act as a medium to access its vast powers. Because of this, the pirates referred to her as the "Maiden of the Leyline". In the last episode, the part of her spirit which was created to be the Maiden of the Leyline departs from her and relocates with the Leyline itself, meaning that Melfina is no longer bound to the Leyline and her past, and is subsequently freed from a forced destiny. Afterwards, Melfina and Gene finally admit their love for each other, and she joins him in exploring space aboard the Outlaw Star. Melfina navigates the Outlaw Star from within a cylindrical chamber on the bridge that rises from the floor and fills with a clear, liquid-like substance, supposedly to help her link with the ship. The liquid is most likely a stabling agent to help ensure that her link is static-free, and because of this she has to navigate without wearing any clothes. She covers herself with her arms across her chest in a formation resembling angel wings, and her lower area is obstructed by the chamber's outer retractable metal coverings. As part of Cartoon Network's editing, the show has her portrayed as wearing tight black shorts and a strapless bra. Aisha Clanclan : is an 18-year-old Ctarl-Ctarl officer with a considerable ego and superhuman strength. She is also far more durable than any human; in episode 5, Gene shoots her at near-point blank range with a Caster shell that mimics a lightning bolt-type spell leaving Aisha merely stunned, while in episode 23 she is shown comfortably bathing in what seems to be molten lava. She also claims to have the best ears in the universe. While it is unknown if they are the best, she is shown to be able to hear small noises that no one else on the crew can. In episode 5, she claims to be immortal, but it is unknown whether or not this is based in fact or is merely Aisha's immense ego and racial pride. Even if it is true, it is more likely a reference to how difficult Ctarl-Ctarls are to kill than to an increased life-span. As with all Ctarl-Ctarl, Aisha has access to an ability referred to in the dub as "Beast Strength", where she taps into the primeval powers of her racial ancestors. This allows her to increase her strength and possibly her speed and durability, but is extremely energy-draining; Aisha burns a lot of calories by using this ability, and is always depicted as eating massive quantities of food afterwards. This ability is somehow tied to lunar bodies, both their presence and their phase, though it is unclear if these make it easier for her to access the ability, or if they reduce the amount of energy it drains. Using Beast Strength makes Aisha more animalistic in form and, apparently, in mentality; at less than full power, her fingernails elongate into claws and she sprouts a tail, while at full power she assumes the form of a feline-like creature that resembles a white tiger with elongated ears. Aisha was originally in charge of locating the Galactic Leyline for the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire, but after she unknowingly allowed Hot Ice Hilda to escape, her government ordered her to stay behind on Blue Heaven to look for clues as punishment. Aisha finds out that Gene Starwind is connected to Hilda and tries to pump him for information. However, Gene knows nothing of the Galactic Leyline, and eludes her by stunning her with a Caster and leaving her to pay the considerable restaurant bill she racked up. Later in the series, Aisha was able to trick Gene into letting her on board the Outlaw Star during the Space Race, where she finds out that the MacDougall Brothers have more information on Hilda than they do. Aisha then decides to join the crew, since they are the ones who were indirectly responsible for her demotion in the first place. During the series, Aisha entered the universe's strongest woman tournament whilst under the guise of a wrestler called "Firecat" (the real Firecat had been captured by Aisha, and was kept tied up and gagged in a locker.) The Ctarl-Ctarl were banned from the tournament five years before when one transformed into her beast form and, after being reprimanded and disqualified for biting off her opponent's ear, went berserk and killed over nine hundred people with thousands injured. In the final fight with Iraga of the Anten Seven, Iraga transformed into a wolf, forcing Aisha to transform into a tiger. Aisha eventually defeated Iraga and secured her place as the strongest woman in the universe. It should be noted, however, that as Ctarl-Ctarl were banned from the competition, it is unknown whether Aisha was crowned the universe's strongest woman or simply disqualified after the final fight. Aisha can be rather absent-minded at times, acting on rash impulse and not really caring about anyone other than herself, and she tends to act like a child. She does have a closer relationship with Jim over the course of the series, and starts to concern herself with his well-being, acting like an older sister to him in many ways. "Twilight" Suzuka : is a female Ultra Class A ninja-assassin who only kills when the sun is setting. Her preferred weapon of choice is a bokken, or wooden sword, which through secret, semi-mystical swordplay can be used to slice metal like a cleaver (in her premiere episode, she sliced through a delivery truck that nearly ran her over), and smash concrete. On the next stroke, however, it will land only a knockout blow on her opponent. She uses a wooden sword instead of a metal one to prevent it from being identified by metal detectors as a weapon. She first appears when she tries to kill Gene Starwind's friend Fred Luo as part of her contract with a rival weapons seller. Gene is able to outsmart her and force her to consent to come after him before she kills Fred as part of her pride. However, in her next appearance, Suzuka saves Melfina from a Kei Pirate and decides to help the group against the Kei Pirates, mainly to go after a member of the Anten Seven named Hitoriga, who killed her family. Surprisingly, Suzuka seems to know more about the Kei Pirates than the rest of the crew. Among the various members on Gene’s ship, Suzuka could best be considered the lone wolf, relying very little on outside help to accomplish her goals. To add to her already enigmatic demeanor, she frequently disappears at ports to take care of "business." She is quiet and pensive, and once tells Gene that she 'sticks around' only because she finds him interesting, much to his chagrin. Throughout the series, there are only three known battles that she has lost; once in the past to Hitoriga (who killed her family), once to Gene, and once to Shimi (possibly due to a meal Aisha had cooked rather than lack of skill). Much about Suzuka's past is unknown, such as why the Kei pirates would target her family, how she survived, and who trained her. Even her age is never really mentioned during the run of the series, though she is estimated to be around Gene's age. All that is known is that her pursuit of the Kei Pirates is of personal nature, particularly towards the assassin Hitoriga. Near the ending of the series, it is implied that she has feelings for Gene. During her fight with Hitoriga, he says, "Well wonders never cease. I'm surprised that you would even consider a partner (referring to Gene Starwind). So Suzuka, are you in love with him?" She responded by telling him that he will hear her answer after she kills him, as a sort of gift in order to see him off to the after life. After the fight and Suzuka wins, she never tells Hitoriga her true feelings for Gene so the nature of her feelings for him have been left unresolved. Cartoon Network heavily edited references to Suzuka being an assassin on the first episode she appeared in (Episode 6) when this show aired on Toonami, though some references managed to slip by. Supporting Characters "Hot Ice" Hilda : is an Outlaw who, for unknown reasons, has a problem with the Kei Pirates. Not much is known about Hilda from before she met Gene. She is responsible for taking out one of the Pirate Guild's leaders at the cost of an arm and an eye. In retaliation, she stole the XGP. After being pursued by pirates, she came to Sentinel III, where she witnessed Gene and Jim kill the assassin 'Death' Rob. She hired the two, under the name Rachel Sweet, to perform jobs for her. When the pirates caught up with them, her true identity was revealed. She tried to kill Gene, but he was able to overpower her, and at gunpoint she revealed the existence of Melfina. Escaping with Gene, Jim, and Melfina, they made their way to Blue Heaven where, while resting, they were attacked by outlaws sent by the MacDougall Brothers. After kicking one of her pursuers in the groin, they escaped to the Farfallas system's sun, where the XGP was being held in an orbiting asteroid. The pirates used a Tao Spell to track them down and, thanks to the MacDougall brothers, Hilda's ship Horus was destroyed. Hilda escaped and tried to reach the XGP by climbing the pirate's grappling cable. However, the cable snapped, sending Hilda, the Tao Master, and her ship into the sun. Hilda stopped the Tao Master from making a final attack on the XGP by grabbing on to her leg and detonating a bomb hidden in her tooth, killing both of them. Her final words to Gene were that "Outlaws never go down easy, no matter what happens to them." Possibly in memory of her, Gene named the ship the Outlaw Star. After Hilda dies, Gene has several visions of her, mainly at times when he is scared and believes that he is going to die (Episodes 15 and 25). This possibly suggests that there was more to their relationship than meets the eye, although he could just feel guilty for his powerlessness when he was unable to rescue her from Farfallas' gravity well. The two were hinted at having spent the night together in Blue Heaven. In the manga version however it is revealed they did have a physical relationship. Cartoon Network removed the scene in when Hilda commits suicide by detonating the bomb hidden in her tooth during the time it was running on Toonami, and instead made it seem that Hilda and the Tao Master died by sinking into Farfallas' sun. Gilliam II : The XGP’s artificial intelligence system, is just as much a personality on board the Outlaw Star as any member of its crew. Primarily communicating through speakerphones, an interface on the bridge, and a seemingly limitless number of miniature maintenance robots, Gilliam is a constant companion of the crew, and assists them in all areas of the ship’s upkeep – even including the kitchen-duty. Sporting a wryly sarcastic, if soft-spoken and humble, personality, Gilliam has been referred to as an “old man,” and indeed, is almost always engaged in reminding the crew of their personal duties and responsibilities, much as a father-figure or a butler might. This often irritates Gene, who would rather sleep late and shirk chores, and Gilliam, as a result, is frequently compelled to confront Gene about his laziness and inadequacy. Gilliam also regularly voices concern over his "future prospects" due to the brash nature of Gene's captaining. When first activated, Gilliam seems hesitant to allow Hilda, Gene or Jim access to the XGP, noting that a large portion of memory has been deleted from the ship’s databank – no doubt a result of the hacking used to divorce the ship from its previous owners. However, upon being ordered, Gilliam enlists them as the crew, and remains unquestioningly loyal to them and their cause afterwards. Always boastful on the topic of the XGP’s prowess and sure to proclaim it “the greatest ship in the galaxy” at any given opportunity, Gilliam is nevertheless burdened by a programming limitation, which disallows him to question the nature of his existence. A technical safeguard against rebellious and sentient AI, Gilliam is still sentient of the restriction, and so while unable to contemplate his own purpose in life, he can contemplate, and does lament, his inability to ask such a profound question. As such, he greatly empathizes with Melfina’s quest to discover her identity (a task that he could never begin to attempt in regards to his own origin), and is always willing to exert himself to the fullest in her assistance. As much as he combs online databases available to him, however, he is never able to uncover any information that would help her. As previously stated, Gilliam has a seemingly endless number of tiny maintenance robots to allow him to repair the Outlaw Star. While the majority of these robots are colored blue, Jim Hawking decides to paint one of them pink on a whim, and in subsequent episodes, Gilliam uses this pink robot as a means of speaking face-to-face with the crew more often than with the blue robots. Fred Luo : is a 20-year-old camp weapons merchant and an old friend of Gene Starwind. Gene goes to him to supply weapons for the Outlaw Star, although it costs a lot of money for Grappler Ship weapons. Although Gene works hard to pay Fred back all the money he owes him, Fred offers discounts for doing favors for him and is willing to help Gene, so Gene is eventually able to pay him back. Fred is also a homosexual and is infatuated with Gene Starwind and Jim Hawking, a fact that is used occasionally for comic relief (some references of which were edited when this show aired on Cartoon Network). Fred appears briefly with his two bodyguards in Angel Links. Swanzo : Swanzo is a Corbanite and the chief mechanic at Blue Heaven. A short humanoid creature with amphibian features, Swanzo is unable to survive in a human environment and must wear a special containment suit outside of his quarters. He was saved by Hilda when his ship was attacked by Ban pirates. His suit's translator has been known to glitch, and will occasionally speak in Corbanese. He says that he had a rather "hot relationship" with Hilda, although he never talked about anything specific. After Farfallas, Gene returns to Blue Heaven and informs him of Hilda's death. As payback for what he still owed Hilda, Swanzo decides to give the Outlaw Star a free paint job and a registration number, which greatly assists the crew by legitimizing them as the ship's owners, a fact which allows them to overcome many technical hurdles in future business and governmental transactions. Mikey : Mikey is Swanzo's human partner at Blue Heaven. He does not like to work for free. He also apparently had some dealings with Fred Luo and doesn't like the young merchant one bit. Clyde : Clyde is the owner of Gene's favorite bar on Sentinal III. He and the waitress are friends of Gene and like to check in from time to time. He also seems to know about many bounties and acts as Gene and Jim's source of job information. He doesn't mind when Gene wrecks up the bar in a fight, as business always picks up once word gets out. Iris : Iris is the waitress at Clyde's bar with unrealized romantic interests in Gene. Their relationship is comically unconsummated, very similar to that between Moneypenny and James Bond: although he is never involved with her, Gene is not above flirting with Iris and occasionally rubbing her rear end (this was cut from Cartoon Network airings). Likewise, Iris has feelings of envy when she sees Gene with other women, such as Hilda or Melfina. She has appeared in two cameo roles on other animated shows: in the Cowboy Bebop episode "Heavy Metal Queen", a waitress who looks and acts exactly like her can be seen in the sequence where Spike Spiegel is at the bar trying to cure his hangover. She also has brief scenes alongside her boss, Clyde, in episode 5 of Angel Links, a spin-off of Outlaw Star, although different voice actors fill their parts. Antagonists Ronald "Ron" MacDougall : is the elder MacDougall Brother (35 years old). Always calm, he is the brains of the MacDougall's entire operation. Ron has a past with Hilda. He uses a caster gun like Gene, but it is basically the barrel of a Caster fashioned in the style of a Shakujo, the staff often carried by Buddhist monks. Ron is a man who will take on any job so long as the money is right and he ends up finishing ahead of where he started. Be it pirates, Space Forces, or private contractors, he will consider anything viable and carry out the job only as it is stipulated, and no further than that. This is demonstrated by the fact that as soon as his contract with the Kei pirates that were pursuing Hilda was up, he immediately turned on them, attempting to kill both the pirates and Hilda, as well as destroying the XGP. Gene accuses Ron of being the man who killed his father, and, as such, the MacDougalls are major antagonists throughout the first half of the show as Gene attempts to track them and exact revenge. Although Gene remembers seeing the El Dorado destroy his father's ship, however, Ron doesn't recall anything of the sort, noting that he has taken on so many similar jobs over his lifetime that he couldn't possibly remember them all. His ignorance of the incident only infuriates Gene more, but, because he possesses rare knowledge of the Galactic Leyline, Gene is always forced to hesitate when given a chance to finally kill him. Despite his amoral personality, Ron is fiercely protective of his younger brother, Harry, who he considers his only family. At the Leyline, after Harry is mortally wounded by Hazanko, Ron becomes mad with grief and rage and subsequently attacks both Gene and Nguyen Khan. Gene counters Ron's caster attack with a powerful #9 shell, however, which propels him up into a starry void and leaves him severely wounded. He only lives because Harry, who had copied his memory and personality into the Shangri La's (the El Dorado was destroyed after Harry's duel in the asteroid field) Main Computer, is able to rescue and rejuvenate him inside of the ship. Both brothers defeated, they decide to temporarily retreat, although they vow that it isn't the last Gene will hear from the MacDougall Brothers. Henry "Harry" MacDougall : is the younger of the MacDougall Brothers (18 years old). Similar to Melfina, he is also a synthetic human, a test tube baby created in a lab using genetic material from that of another individual who had earlier died. Though usually calm and arrogant, he is prone to intense fits of rage and insanity. In his first upfront encounter with the XGP, he tries to hack into its systems. As a defensive measure, Gilliam shuts down and Harry encounters Melfina for the first time (Melfina was navigating the ship and thus was connected to its mainframe when the systems were shut down). From then on he developed an obsessive infatuation with her; claiming whenever they meet that they are one and the same and are the only ones capable of understanding each other and even directly admits to Melfina at the Leyline that he loves her. However, his attempts to make Melfina fall in love with him all fail as his emotionally unstable personality frightens her. In episode 17, Harry even beats Melfina unconscious after she refuses to accompany him. Over the course of the series, Harry's body goes through numerous cybernetic enhancements, the first of which replaced his right arm with a mechanical prosthetic that allowed him greater strength and hacking capabilities. In the ruins of the Grave of the Dragon, Harry is nearly killed by one of Gene's caster shells which requires most of his body to be replaced with bio-android prosthetics that empower him with superhuman strength and speed as well as weapons in his arms and shoulders. The cybergenic upgrades also allow him to completely control and navigate the Shangri La (the El Dorado was destroyed after Harry's duel in the asteroid field, the Shangri La was the identical ship belonging to the MacDougalls) and pass through the outer barriers of the Galactic Leyline. Harry meets his end trying to defend Melfina from Hazanko at the gate to the Leyline. Although dying, the backup life support system kept him alive just long enough to delete the protective barriers created by Hazanko at the doors of the Leyline and tell Melfina a final 'Goodbye', fading away just before he got a chance to kiss her. His last two wishes were for Melfina and Gene to be together, and for Melfina to sing the song she sung back at the Grave of the Dragons for him one last time. It is later noted that before departing to the Leyline he integrated himself with the mainframe computer of the Shangri La and created a "backup" of himself in case something happened to him while on the journey to the Leyline. The backup version of Harry is quoted as saying "...almost as good as the original" and is unaware of any of the events or experiences of that of the original Harry that took place in the Leyline. Professor Nguyen Khan : was one of the leading scientists on the Leyline Project. He has an odd personality, often speaking to himself, thinking out loud and repeating the same phrases multiple times in a row. A hyper-intellectual, his communication and personal deficiencies evidence a mentality pushed near if not into a mild form of insanity by information-overload. Khan's goal in life is to gain ultimate knowledge, which drives him to find the Galactic Leyline, a "machine-god" created by an extinct alien race that acts as a catalog for all of existence. Khan first appears as a judge for the Heifong Space Race, recognizing the XGP as soon as it appears as an entrant in the competition. Afterwards he somewhat stalks Gene and his crew, going to extreme lengths to track them and their ship down. A shameless opportunist, Khan's only allegiance is to himself, and he is willing to use every conceivable ploy to achieve his goal of reaching the Leyline and attaining ultimate knowledge, switching sides and backstabbing practically every member of the cast. Later on in the series, it is revealed that he was the scientist who decrypted some of the ancient biotechnology found in the Grave of the Dragon ruins that led to Melfina's creation. He was also responsible for the development of the XGP15A-II and was a major factor in the Leyline Project. Aside from Hazanko, Khan is the only person in the series shown to have knowledge of voice recognition codes which tap into Melfina's hidden powers related to the Leyline. By uttering "It was you who broke my Meissen plate" in Melfina's presence, Khan shuts her down and forces Gene to infiltrate a high-security prison and retrieve the Leyline's coordinates from a prisoner being held there, threatening never to revive her unless Gene complies with his demands. After Gene begrudgingly fulfills his half of the deal, Khan is knocked unconscious after reviving Melfina, with the phrase "Breakfast is signalled with a silver spoon", and is subsequently abandoned by the crew. Nevertheless, by siding with the MacDougall brothers Khan gains entrance to the Leyline, riding as a passenger in their ship after repairing Harry's damaged body with prosthetic enhancements. When Harry is mortally wounded in battle, however, Ron double-crosses and threatens to kill Khan, whose life is only spared by Gene's timely entrance. Afterwards, both Gene and Khan gain access to the Leyline's center when Harry, using the last of his automated suit's energy, hacks through the defenses of the Leyline's encrypted final portal. Khan's goal for ultimate knowledge is fulfilled when he reaches the center of the Leyline shortly after Gene and Hazanko, making him the third and last member of the cast to do so alive. After that, he thanks Gene and Melfina before being entirely converted into the very concept of information itself: "I am data, and data is me." Lord Hazanko : is the leader of the Anten Seven and a high-ranking member of the 108 Stars. Wanting absolute power, he began searching for the Galactic Leyline to gain enough power to defeat the Tendo King and even the Tenpa Emperor. A ruthless tyrant, he was willing to do anything, even sacrifice his own people. A skilled and powerful Tao Master, he can deflect virtually any attack directed at him and use devastating Tao magic with very little effort, going so far as to reverse the fatal effects of a #4 Caster Shell and reemerge unharmed from apparent nonexistence. Though the Leyline gave him the power he wanted, merging him with his ship, the Geomancer and apparently with fellow subordinate Tobigera, he was nevertheless defeated by Gene and the Outlaw Star when Melfina tapped into the Leyline and used its powers against him. His dub voice is given a metallic tone in the last 3 episodes of the series. Kei Pirates The are a collection of users of Tao magic. The group most often mentioned in the series is the 108 Stars, led by the mysterious Tendo King. Those in Outlaw Star are mostly led by Hazanko and his elite Anten Seven. 108 Stars The 108 Stars are a group of Tao magic users from the Hoppo system, and members of the Kei Pirates. The name may come from the legend of the 108 Stars of Destiny, of the classic Chinese novel Shui Hu Zhuan. Centered around the Tendo King, their leader, the 108 Stars operate in smaller groups of 10 or 20, with the leaders of these groups acting as independents, pursuing their own interests. In the series, the group that pursues Gene Starwind and the rest of the crew of the Outlaw Star is led by a man called Hazanko. The members of this group supposedly possess a great power known as Sunjutsu (pronounced soon-joot-su), which is based on feng shui. They hunt Gene and his companions relentlessly, eventually setting the Anten Seven after them. The Seven and Hazanko are eventually defeated, yet the 108 Stars live on. The Anten Seven The , led by Hazanko, are an elite group of assassins who take their names from a variety of Japanese beetles. They were sent after Gene and the crew of the Outlaw Star. Each member has their own particular area of expertise and they utilize their techniques according to whatever obstacles need to be overcome. Up until the discovery of the Galactic Leyline, it seems that they had worked alone. Four of them seem to be Tao masters and the rest are skilled in different fields. Shimi : "A warrior whose skill is such, that there is no one in the Pirate Guild who has never heard of him." , whose real name is , is the first assassin sent after Gene. At first, he sends one of his lackeys to take on his appearance and challenge Gene, but after the lackey is soundly defeated, he emerges in person, revealing himself to Gene (the two had met the previous night in a bar). The real Shimi carries an immense backpack around with him, which is full of an assortment of weapons, including a sword, pistol, rockets, and a top of the line Space Forces light shield. He is a very skilled duelist and is yet to be defeated. During their duel, he easily defeats Gene. After witnessing this, Jim, Aisha, and Suzuka attack, intent on vengeance, but are also thoroughly defeated. Surviving with a wound to his ribs, Gene is then challenged to a one-shot duel by Shimi. Gene wins the duel due to Shimi having a faulty gun (likely it was a dud and he was faking it). Believed to be dead, he is buried by Gene and the others, but eventually digs himself out of his grave muttering: "They sure buried me deep enough." Instead of continuing his life as an assassin, Shimi chooses to start his life anew as a wandering outlaw, having orchestrated his defeat and "death" for the exact purpose of removing himself from the Kei Pirates. A prior conversation with Gene portrays his lack of enthusiasm for killing. Although he is first to be defeated, he is suggested to be second only to Hazanko in strength/fighting skill. Lady Iraga : "A werewolf with miraculous life force." is the second assassin that Gene and the crew encounter. Defying Hazanko, she entered into an intergalactic fighting tournament which decides the strongest woman in the universe. She is a member of the Hoke Shadow Boxing team, displaying incredible feats of strength and power enabling her to defeat the four-year consecutive strongwoman champion in under thirty seconds. She wears a pair of goggles to hide her eyes and gloves to hide her hands, which are wolflike. Like Aisha, she has the ability to fully transform into a large beast. She was defeated by Aisha in the final round of the tournament, after completely destroying the tournament building and setting it and surrounding areas ablaze. Hanmyo : "A prodigy of space combat with the use of cats." is the youngest member of the Anten Seven and travels with her two cats. She pilots an advanced ship, the Torarato, which separates into three subsections, each equipped with its own grappler and weapons. These smaller ships are controlled by her cats, who she communicates with through a mental link. She is also an expert in martial arts, as seen when Jim initially spots her training near a water fountain on Symka 5. She easily proves to be a match for the Outlaw Star on their first encounter, forcing Gene and the crew to escape and dock at the satellite station Symka 5. She has a brief romantic involvement with Jim (never knowing he was part of Gene's crew), believing that their meeting was fate. However, apparently she met her death when the Outlaw Star unknowingly destroyed her ship when she attacked them a second time. She wanted to finish them off quickly, determined to keep her appointment with Jim for their second date. When the Outlaw Star finally left Symka 5, a single rose from the flowers Jim had given her on their first date could be seen floating in space. Hamushi : "A beauty who captivates men purely by her sex appeal." (Changed to "A beauty who captivates men purely by her good looks" on Cartoon Network) When fought Gene at the Leyline, he described her as "a tough little cookie and a righteous babe all in one." She is a temptress who uses her sex appeal to send her enemies into a false sense of security. Immune to most Caster Shells, she can effortlessly deflect or negate them with a mere flick of her pink fur-frilled fan, a weapon that in turn generates shockwaves. Only when Gene uses the rare number #4 shell is she defeated: in exchange for a portion of his life energy, the shell dismantles her organic structure into a flailing mass of wiry fibers of flesh before absorbing her into a miniature black hole. The black hole has been rumored to "compress" the target of the rare caster shell (e.g.: compressed data into a saving device), this would explain why a similar caster shell could not contain Hazanko (his power produced data too large for the caster shell to contain). She appears to be the commander of Hazanko's personal ship the Geomancer. Tobigera : "A master of disguise and the tools of killing." (Changed to "A master of disguise and the tools of battle" on Cartoon Network) is a master of disguise. Mainly used for comic relief in the Hot Springs Planet episode, he attempts to assassinate Gene a number of times using a claw with three long blades on his right arm while dressed as a tourist, but is always thwarted by several random, yet highly comedic deus ex machina, all whilst Gene fails to realize any danger. Nevertheless, he is still the last member of the Anten Seven to be defeated, having been absorbed into the Geomancer along with Hazanko who was granted ultimate power by the Leyline in the show's final episode. After assisting Hazanko in the last grappler fight, Tobigera meets his death when a clawed arm growing from the Outlaw Star impales him through the face. Jukai : "His abilities are shrouded in mystery." is the oldest member and presumably an old man with a very raspy voice, although his face is never seen and little is known about him. He is wrapped from the neck down in a straitjacket with a spiked back, and wears a mask with a stylised number six on it. His specialty appears to be manipulation of hydrogen/oxygen particles in the air around him, as seen when he teleports Hazanko to the Leyline's gate. He attacks by turning into a giant whirlwind, appearing to be made of water, and ramming into his opponents. When defeated by Aisha at the Leyline, he deflates like a popped water-balloon, streams of liquid spurting from his many wounds. Though his arms and hands are pretty much restrained in the jacket he can still cast spells by shaking his body from side to side while chanting. He appears to be Hazanko's right hand man and the strongest spellcaster other than Hazanko himself. Hitoriga : "A man advanced in the martial arts much like the leader of the Anten Seven." is an assassin much like Suzuka, and not much is known about his past except for the fact that he was responsible for killing Suzuka's entire family as part of a contract. A swordsman himself, when he battled Suzuka in the past he was able to defeat her, making him the only person to have ever done so in a sword-fight. Afterwards, he altered his face and body to look precisely like hers, giving him the bizarre appearance of a doppelganger, but normally wears a bag like mask with painted eyeholes and a toothy grin. He states he did this because he is in love with Suzuka and wanted to at least see her face since he knew he could never have her. When he confronted Suzuka again in the Galactic Leyline's maze, he was finally defeated by her Crimson technique, which she had devised specifically to kill him. Outlaw Star Category:Outlaw Star